This study explored the impact of recent demographic changes on clinical service delivery in the state of Minnesota. A Web-based survey was used to ask speech-language pathologists in Minnesota about their training, clinical caseloads, and professional experiences with respect to diversity. Primary survey goals were to (a) determine if, and how, recent changes in the overall state demographics were reflected on caseloads of speech-language pathologists, and (b) identify challenges clinicians faced in meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse population. The authors considered the breadth or range of economically, racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse populations represented on caseloads, relative to depth of diversity. Survey results are discussed with respect to challenges inherent in providing services to a diverse caseload, together with the competencies needed in order to meet these professional challenges.

Acknowledgements

Funding for this project came from a Diversity Grant from the Bush Early Career Faculty Program in the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Minnesota, and from the Department of Communication Disorders at the University of

Minnesota, Minneapolis. Additional support for manuscript preparation was provided by grants from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R03 DC05542-01) and the University of Minnesota (Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry and Scholarship). We thank Ann Derr and members of the Multicultural Affairs Committee of MSHA for their resources and collaboration, and Cheryl Conohan for her assistance with preparing data for analysis. We are especially grateful to all the speech-language specialists in Minnesota who responded to our survey.

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